Vietnam Airlines will issue more shares to current shareholders to increase its chartered capital and reduce State ownership. In addition, more VNA shares will be traded on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, compared to the volume listed on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) since early last year.

According to the airline, the air transport market will grow rapidly in 2018. Therefore, the carrier will optimize its resources to develop its fleet in the 2021-2025 period with a vision towards 2030 and expand its flight network, specifically a direct route to the United States. VNA has previously stated it has plans to buy new Airbus A350-900 and A321 Neo aircraft.

Last year, VNA floated 1.2 billion shares on UPCoM. At the end of 2017 its share price soared 60% to reach a peak of VND42,000 per share.

As for business performance last year, VNA and its subsidiaries Jetstar Pacific and Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) operated nearly 180,000 flights carrying 26.5 million passengers, up 6.7% over 2016. The national carrier holds shares of 60% and 32.3% for domestic and international aviation markets respectively.

Vietnam Airlines obtained total consolidated revenue of VND88.4 trillion and consolidated pre-tax profit of over VND2.8 trillion last year, rising 8.3% over the previous year. The parent company fetched VND66.2 trillion in revenue and VND1.85 trillion in pre-tax profit, growing nearly 50% over the target and 8% versus 2016.

Last year, VNA had over four Airbus A350-900 XWBs and a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, taking the total number of these two types of aircraft in its fleet to 10 and 11 respectively. New aircraft have been used on the Hanoi-HCMC route and key international routes to Europe, Northeast Asia and Australia.

The airline also announced a roadmap to improve its narrow-body aircraft fleet. It signed a long-term contract with Aviation Capital Group (ACG) to lease six A321neos and another contract valued at US$1.5 billion with American aerospace firm Pratt & Whitney to buy engines and support services for A321neo aircraft in November last year.

VNA also clinched contracts and cooperation agreements with some foreign airlines such as Air France, Bangkok Airways of Thailand and LOT of Poland. As for local flights, the air carrier continued coordinating with Jetstar Pacific to improve and diversify its services. The two airlines jointly launched a schedule for flights to Hanoi, HCMC and Danang with flight intervals of 30 minutes.